KAMPALA, Uganda: Vice President Jessica Alupo has launched the African Pastoralist Women Network (ARPWN) and Learning Centre to advance gender justice, climate resilience, and equitable land governance across Africa.
The continental network and learning centre were launched during the ongoing five-day African Pastoralist Women Gathering (APWG), aligned with the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026).
The gathering attracted over 200 participants from Northern, Sub-Saharan, West and Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa. These included grassroots pastoralist women, leaders, government officials, and civil society organizations committed to advancing gender justice, climate resilience, and equitable land governance across the continent.
Held under the theme “Voices from the Rangelands: African Pastoralist Women Rising for Land Rights, Climate Justice, Equity, and Peace,” the event is taking place at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala.
While launching the network, Alupo said pastoralist women are the backbone of Africa’s rangelands. They sustain livelihoods, protect ecosystems, preserve indigenous knowledge, and build peace, yet their voices remain underrepresented in land governance, climate policy, and decision-making spaces.
“Pastoralist women play a crucial but often invisible role in animal care, food production, household resilience, and peacebuilding, and this needs to be recognized. This gathering creates space for sharing experiences, challenges, successes, and learning about value addition in pastoralist products, cultural preservation, and livelihood diversification,” she said.
She challenged participants to actively deliberate and provide concrete proposals on the objectives of a pastoral women’s leadership association, as well as gender-responsive national, regional, and global pastoral policies and frameworks.
Other themes include women’s land rights and tenure security, climate resilience and ecosystem stewardship, the contribution of pastoralism to sustainable food systems and agroecology, and the recognition of pastoralist women and mobility as a basic right.
The Vice President assured pastoralist women that the government will continue creating a conducive environment for pastoralism to thrive by implementing supportive policies, laws, and regulatory frameworks governing rangelands.
She noted that pastoralism is recognized in key frameworks such as the National Land Policy and the National Climate Change Act 2021. She also commended the President of Uganda for restoring peace in rangelands, particularly through the disarmament process in the Karamoja sub-region.
However, Alupo acknowledged persistent challenges in rangelands, including abuses against pastoralist communities and land degradation caused by the conversion of grazing land into crop farming, mining zones, and infrastructure projects, as well as the fragmentation of grazing areas.
Other challenges include declining food and nutrition security due to reduced livestock productivity, limited milk and meat supplies, and the lack of organized systems for pasture production, seed banks, and veterinary services, all of which exacerbate livestock losses and restrict mobility.
She added that women and children disproportionately bear the burden of these challenges, facing increased workloads and reduced access to education. “Urgent, inclusive, and sustainable interventions are essential to reverse these trends and protect pastoralist livelihoods,” she said.
On climate adaptation, Alupo noted the limited strategies to address climate variability, including frequent droughts and erratic rainfall, which disrupt traditional mobility patterns, compromise food security, and increase livestock mortality.
She also highlighted key gaps, noting that limited understanding of pastoralism’s ecological and socio-economic value among policymakers leads to ineffective interventions. She said governance structures often exclude traditional pastoralist systems, resulting in poor management and resource conflicts. She added that limited veterinary services and delayed disease control measures leave pastoralists vulnerable to livestock losses, while the lack of comprehensive, long-term data on rangelands and livelihoods hinders evidence-based decision-making.
On behalf of the Government of Uganda, Alupo pledged continued support for pastoralist communities by strengthening rights—especially for women—and addressing climate change impacts in rangelands.
Ethics and Integrity Minister Rose Lilly Akello applauded partners and funders who contributed to the success of the gathering, including GIZ, NIATERO, ACC, FAO, ILC, NLC Uganda, Reconcile, Impact Kenya, and WHH, among others.
Uganda has a total area of 241,038 sq. km, of which 44% (84,000 sq. km) is covered by rangelands. These areas are home to over 6.6 million people.
The term “rangelands” broadly refers to natural grasslands, bushlands, and woodlands, forming what is commonly known as the “Cattle Corridor.”
These rangelands stretch from the north-eastern border with Kenya and South Sudan to the south-western border with Tanzania, covering several districts. Coverage ranges from 100% in districts such as Moroto and Kotido to over 60% in Kiboga, Mubende, Nakasongola, Sembabule, Mbarara, and Ntungamo, with lower coverage in areas like Kabarole and Mbale.
